90%. That's the amount of target language we should be using from the very first day of instruction in our world language classes, right? The thing is, while we hear all about ideas for how to make the 90% possible, the 10% is a powerful resource that often falls by the wayside during PD. In my humble opinion, the 10% gets neglected because people assume teachers know what to do with it. The road to proficiency based teaching is littered with the bodies of teachers who dove into target language teaching without knowing how to scaffold it. I was one of those teachers. I learned the hard way what that 10% should be used for and how to maximize it to make the 90% possible. Not all language teachers figure this vital lesson out, and they give up on TL teaching saying it doesn't work. Sad, but true.

Yes. You heard correctly. I don't think the 90% is a possibility if we don't know how to use the 10% to support it. I really don't. Since we are in the countdown to the new school year (could it be true?), now is really good time to ponder how to use that 10% to the advantage this coming school year.

Working Your Way UpI know what all the experts in our field say about using 90% target language, I know why and I agree, but I also know that the reality that all teachers new to target language teaching face. Before actually doing it we all have questions like these:

Am I proficient enough for this much language?

Will my students resist my teaching in the TL?

What do I do if they do?

How do I teach what I need to teach in the TL?

How do I avoid speaking over their heads?

How do I know they are getting the point of the lesson?

How do I know they are learning?

What I know is that many teachers, departments and language programs are in the very beginning stages of their proficiency based teaching journey, and they need to know that 90% is a goal to work towards in those early stages. In reality, 90% doesn't happen overnight. Really successful 90% TL classrooms and programs spent time building a culture of target language. A new norm. Of course, this is easier to do with first year students because they have no other frame of reference, but with other students it is precarious because they have been taught in other ways. It is wise to keep this in mind before just diving into full blown TL instruction if it is new to you. Teaching in the TL is very intentional and requires support to ensure that learners feel safe, are following along, know what to do when they lose track of what is going on, and are actually learning.

All that being said, the best advice I ever received was to work my way up to 90%. Teaching in the TL is also a sort of art form that even the best world language teachers are constantly working to perfect. It isn't just speaking the target language at students. It is also not just about the teacher speaking the target language. It is a very orchestrated environment that can often contain many working parts. It takes lots of practice and a deep instructional tool box. Lesson plans for target language teaching are less about the "activities" and more about timing, purpose, scaffolding, and well thought out instructions, and all of this is needed to help students AND the teacher use the TL 90% of the time. TL lessons are also less about completing and covering things and more about the mental processes going on in the brain. This is why that 10% is so important, and must be taken very seriously.

So, what about the 10%?First, it is really wise to calculate what the 10% really is. Know what 10% of your instructional time is for you and for your students. My rule of thumb is that I get 10% and so do they, especially in novice and early intermediate level classes (levels 1-2). That being said, here are some ideas for what teachers and students could use the 10% for:

10% for Teachers

Training students on how to be learners in the TL environment.

Instructions

The Hook

Coaching

Mini-workshop or lesson to clarify a concept or target structure

Goal Setting

Feedback

Prior learning activation*

*Teacher could use TL even if students can't.

10% for Students

Clarification questions

Peer to peer feedback or evaluation

Comprehension check conversations

Processing Time

Planning Time for informal / formative performance

Q&A

Pre-reading / Pre-listening / Pre-viewing

A hook activity

Prior learning activation

Purposeful 10%The reason why the 10% is so important is that it sets the stage for and supports the use of TL for instruction. It helps teachers and students manage being in that type of environment. For the 10% to be powerful, it should be purposeful. That means it should be as much a part of our planning as anything else in the lesson. We can take control of the 10% or students will, and if they do it is likely 10% will turn into 15% or 20% or more. Being intentional with that time is all about building and sustaining momentum in the target language. We have to create the expectation that TL will be used in the classroom, and then make sure that environment is sustained in order to really see students make remarkable progress from one proficiency level to the next. Proficiency based, target language teaching and the planning it requires is so much more deliberate than anything I ever did in the past. I don't remember ever having to know so much, or needing so many tools and strategies to use before. That is because before there was no real goal.